Thursday 28 February 2008

Happy Birthday to me (for Monday)

I've been busy with my first week of law school (yay!), so here's a quick pic from my birthday party on Saturday night (my birthday was on Monday, so alas I had to party early):



Cookies and Cream cuppers and the Hazelnut Choc Mousse filled Hazelnut Cuppers from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. So yummy. These provided me with the energy to sing karaoke for two hours. Best. Birthday. Party. Ever.

Thursday 14 February 2008

Arrrggghhhhhh (or Yarrrrr for the piratical amongst us)

This is the THIRD time I've started this post. I attempted to post this twice on Tuesday and Blogger decided that it wanted to be evil that day, so here I am!

I wanted to title this "The Yum Disease", in honour of Cam's medical studies, but now it's just Arrrggghhhhhh (or Yarrrrr for the piratical amongst us).

Here be the tasty stuff:
Special guests Adam and Kath's "Tomato Basil and Garlic pasta with Chickpea Salad". Remind me to get the recipe from Kath. It's full of olive oil and deliciousness!

Cam made a "Mushroom and Pea" type curry, but this included zucchini (a vegetable I can no longer live without) and cashews (which are just tasty dammit). 5 stars. Seen here with turmeric rice!



I made my first attempt at a curry "Zucchini Chickpea Tomato Curry" from Dreena Burton's Eat Drink and Be Vegan. Woweeeeeee. We're not going to include the whole coriander seeds next time, but other than that the flavours were perfecto. I might invade Cam's cooking arena!



My dad came over for dinner (Mum was away at a conference) so I made Lasagne and salad.


The Lasagne uses the "Chik'n" seitan from Volume Two of Don't Eat Off The Sidewalk (which I baked) made into a bolognaise sauce (with the "Marinara Sauce" from Veganomicon) layered with wholemeal pasta and spinach "Cashew Ricotta" from V-con. Topped with "Pine Nut Custard" of the same book.


Cam made Tomato and Walnut Rocket Salad. We used a balsamic dressing (the Paul Newman one is vegan!).


Cam's snack plate using various Asian grocer treats – Spring Rolls, Mushroom Chunks and Cabbage Dumplings.



Get Sconed's New Farm "Mac and Cheez". I added extra mustard powder. Yummers.


It's been a week (or so) of firsts – My first Chili! This one was the Black Bean stew (I think) from VWAV.

With Joy of Vegan Baking Cornbread (another first). Awesome Awesome Awesome!

I sent "Coconut Choc Chip Cookies" from La Dolce Vegan in the Aussie PPK Cookie Swap. Quality testing assured that these were of the highest standard.


Finally, Cam took me out to dinner on Monday to Magic Wok in Sunnybank. I had "Crispy Chicken in Bean Sauce" and he had some kind of fish. We also had greens on the side (that were still crispy the next day when I ate leftovers for lunch!).


Aaaahhhh. That feels better! We're not big on Valentine's Day, so we're having hot dogs for dinner. I'm then planning to crash on the couch and watch Buffy. Toodle Ooo!

Monday 4 February 2008

Holidays are awesome

So I've been lazy. Woops. Actually, not woops, I've been enjoying my last few weeks of freedom (and Cam's already started Med School, so it's been a bit crazy 'round here!).
I'm excitedly preparing for law school. I had to pick a non-law elective and, in order to be fair to the poor 18 yr olds, I decided not to do English. I'm doing French instead! I've been speaking aspirational French since I was a teenager (yes folks, that's English with a French accent).
We've got lots of food to catch up on, so here we go!
WARNING: There's lots of repeats in today's post – I don't have much of an imagination sometimes!

Spinach and Ricotta (Veganomicon Cashew Ricotta) Ravioli with (Veganomicon) Marinara Sauce:


I continued my fetish for kitchen equipment with a ravioli mold!

Isa's Pumpkin Pie Brownies (I've made these before, delicious!):

The usual fortnightly pizza:

Cam made "Chicken" and Sweet Corn Soup. Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo tasty!

Random stir fry.... I think I made this?


Apple and Sultana Muffin (bastardized recipe from Don't Eat Off The Sidewalk Vol. 1):

(Yes, I have tiny hands)
The insides were yummo!

Cam's Extra Special Tomato Soup (1 can Rosella Tomato Soup, 20 mushroom chunks (from the Asian grocer) and a can of chickpeas. You'll have to hassle him for the extra special herbs and spices!):


An army of gingerbread cuppers for Cam's last day of work:

VWAV Carrot Bisque (I was sick for about three days – this helped with my recovery):

Lower fat Pumpkin Ziti from Veganomicon (the secret is not frying the topping & just spraying the top with our fancy new non-aerosol oil spray bottle. Yes, another gadget!):

Celine(from the Have Cake, Will Travel blog of awesomeness)'s Cheezy Quackers. Note the hand of our fantastic model Kath!

There's more to come, but I might save our very special Iron Chef Vegan guest chef meal for another day!